Lease Financial Group

Fradulent Billing

I signed a 60 month lease for a credit card terminal with this company in July of 2003. In August of 2008, I contacted Lease Financial Group and spoke to a customer service representative regarding the process for terminating our lease and returning the credit card terminal back to them. We followed the directions given to us and shipped the leased equipment to an address in NY, NY. The customer service representative stated that one final payment would be deducted from the business checking account within 30 days of receipt of the terminal which occurred in September 2008.

So far this month, October 2008, Lease Financial Group has sent one billing invoice and has made three attempt to deduct fees from the business checking account (all for different amounts). After receiving the invoice, I finally had a phone number that I could call to rectify the situation and was told that the equipment received was incomplete; no mention of this was made in August when the equipment was returned. Now I am receiving five to six automated phone calls per day. A search on the internet has many other business owners reporting the "eternal lease strategy" of Lease Financial Group and the various ways that this company extorts further monies out of their own clients. Most interesting of all is the the address show above, which is from the invoice from Lease Financial Group, is for a different branch of the same company that leases health care equipment. Also I have been uable to find a valid web address for this company. In short, this is an unscrupulous company.

Comments

We also signed a lease at about the same time. I kind of forgot they were pulling $42.00 a month out of our account. I now am concerned about termanating the lease with them as I need to up grade. I can afford to buy my own equipment. I have paid this lease for 2 years longer then the agreement.

Any advice would be appreciated as I am about to contact them
Ron at asplus60@hotmail.com

They did the same thing to me. Gave me an address in New York to return the equipment with a letter stating why I was turning it in. Mailed it the first week of November, and was auto deducted the lease amount from my bank account yesterday. These guys are slimy. It's funny, they were able to bring a machine out from the credit card processing companies local office but I had to send it at my expense to New York with no RMA provided so I could track it. I should have known it was going to be like this when my reps phone number went straight to voicemail and it was full and wouldn't accept messages..

MPORTANT ARTICLE AND THIS REMAINS ME OF THE MERCHANT ACCOUNT VENDORS OUT OF NEW YORK AND CHICAGO SCAMMING THE SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS OUT OF THERE EARNINGS BUT IN THIS CASE THERE IS NO INVESTIGATION WHY IS IT BECAUSE THEY HAVE CLOUTED COVER?

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A gang of unknown thieves has stolen nearly $10 million using micro charges made to more than a million credit and debit cards in an elaborate multiyear scam, according to a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission in March.

Have any of these company names appeared on your bank card statement? The FTC says they were front companies used by scammers to make nearly $10 million in charges to consumer credit and debit card accounts. (FTC v. API Trade, LLC)

The fraudulent charges went unnoticed by the majority of card owners because they were made in small amounts — ranging from 20 cents to $10 — that bypassed fraud detection algorithms, and because the scammers typically made only one fraudulent charge per card.

The sophisticated scam, which was first reported by IDG News Service, began in 2006 and was stifled only recently after the FTC succeeded to shut down merchant accounts the scammers were using and halt the activities of at least 14 money mules who were laundering illegal proceeds for the gang.

According to court documents filed (.pdf) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the scammers — identified only as “John Does” in the complaint — recruited money mules through a spam campaign that sought to hire a U.S.-based financial manager for an international financial services company.

Mules who responded to the ad and were chosen for the task opened multiple bank accounts and about 100 limited liability companies for the scammers, which were then used to make the fraudulent charges and launder money to bank accounts in Cyprus and several Eastern European countries, including Estonia and Lithuania.

Front companies set up by the mules included Albion Group, API Trade, ARA Auto Parts Trading, Data Services, New York Enterprizes, and SMI Imports, among others.

The scammers then purchased domain names and set up phone numbers and virtual office addresses for the front companies through services such as Regus. They used this information — along with federal tax ID numbers stolen from legitimate companies with similar names — to apply for more than 100 merchant accounts with credit card processors, such as First Data.

According to IDG,

They used another legitimate virtual business service — United World Telecom’s CallMe800 — to have phone calls forwarded overseas. To further make it seem as though their companies were legitimate, the scammers would set up fake retail Web sites. And when credit card processors asked them to provide information about company executives, they handed over legitimate names and social security numbers, stolen from ID theft victims.

When they had to log into payment processor Web sites, they would do this from IP addresses that were located near their virtual offices, again evading payment processor fraud detection services.

Once approved by the card processors, the front companies were able to charge consumer credit and debit cards. Money charged to the cards was directed into the bank accounts set up by the money mules, who then transferred it to accounts overseas.

The charges showed up on consumer credit and debit card statements with a merchant name and toll-free phone number. But consumers who called the numbers to question the charges generally encountered an automated voicemail recording saying the number had been disconnected or instructing them to leave a detailed message. The calls, of course, were never returned.

More than 1.35 million cards were used to make fraudulent charges, according to IDG, but 90 percent of the charges went uncontested by consumers.

The FTC has been unable to identify the scammers so far, though finding the money mules was much easier. One of the mules, James P. Smith of Brownwood, Texas, wrote the judge in the case that he worked for a scammer named “Alex Moore” for four years, never realizing that he was involved in anything illegal.

Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/ftc-sues-scammers/#ixzz0sRXVbRuE

To get around lawsuits filed against them in Illinois Lease Financial Group and Northern Leasing have no valid Corporation and or LLC operating within Illinois. According the records from within the Secretary of States Office they were either revoked and or dissolved therefore they had no rights to operation a business within the state of Illinois unless they have a business license within the City of Chicago which I will verify today with city hall, and if they do have one they have to register as a LLC and or Corporation they can not be all of these things and a corporation has to setup as a foreign company doing business as opening the doors to this all being based as a fraud within the state of Illinois. They are suing people for money under the cloud of alleged fraud. There is listed a Ari Cohen who has been shown on Corporate records as the President in other states and Jay p Cohen is under other names as well. This is for your records

They have no valid address, and in Illinois nothing 233 North Michigan Ave, Chicago Illinois is gone there is no building located at 65 West Wacker and no company within the S E W adjacent buildings.

my company just closed in July and I got a call to pay $129.69 which i gave them a credit card number for and if I return it to New York ( i am from ontario) they will send me a letter saying the lease is done. I am scared to return it. Should i take pictures of what i am returning?

OUR COMPANY ALSO HAS BEEN SCAMED BY THIS COMPANY. AT $42 AND CHANGE PER MONTH.FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS.AFTER NUMEROUS TIME TRING TO CONTACT THEM, THEY SAY WE HAVE SATISFIED OUR LEASE.HAVE BEEN WITH THIS COMPANY 12 YEARS AND NEVER FOUND A TRUSTWORTHY CC COMPANY YET.
HAMILTON, MONTANA

We also got scammed by the sales rep, which the company doesn't seem to care about the fact that their sales reps are deceitful. He sold us this "fabulous" machine with all the bells and whistles which we have had nothing but problems with, problems that they expect us to fix. We were lied to about rates and fees, and when we called to tell them we were done dealing with them, they basically told us too bad the machine was ours to continue paying for, even knowing that the rep lied to get a sale. We have contacted supervisor after supervisor demanding action, and now they won't even return our calls. We will be reporting them to the B.B.B. and the attorney generals office. Bothell, WA.

They are getting us for $67.40 per month for 22 months more. To terminate, they want $1482.80. I haven't used this machine once and want to return it but am considering simply stopping payments and waiting to see what they do. Would rather keep the equipment until they provide a trackable return method and let them try to get the rest if they want and are able to.